It was a recurring theme in his career to be in the right place at the right time. One day when he was working on a TV series which starred Shirley MacLaine, the crew were desperate for an actor so they turned to John as the only man available.
“‘It has to be you’, they said. So I stayed up half the night learning my lines. But in the morning Shirley came in and said she’d changed some of the script and I had to learn it all again. After we had filmed it, Shirley turned round and said, ‘you’re a better designer than you are an actor’. I think most of it ended up on the cutting floor. It was more of a cameo really!”
John’s paintings will be exhibited alongside works by Colin Grimes and Jane Wateridge. I meet them as they are putting the finishing touches to the displays. Jane’s acrylic and oil landscapes are all about evoking mood, she tells me. Several of them were commissioned for the walls of a complementary health centre and you can imagine them exuding an air of peace and tranquillity. Jane becomes completely absorbed by the sense of place when she paints. Standing in front of a beach scene depicting a rich green sea, she says. “I actually felt sea sick when I painted this.” I can see why - the landscapes feel like places that you could jump into, like the pavement pictures in Mary Poppins. Colin produces acrylic and pen and ink drawings of idealised landscapes. He used to work with John in the design industry in the 60s, I am told. “I used to be his assistant”, he says. “And ironically I’m still assisting him now, hanging all his paintings for him.” “It’s a pleasure though”, he adds, smiling. ER